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The new study reviews earlier research concluding that transsexuals can be a risk to military effectiveness, in part because their transformations entail higher-than-average anxiety and depression. Currently, U.S. military regulations regard non-traditional gender identities as medical or personality disorders which constitute a basis for separation. The Army Medical Services Standards of Medical Fitness, for instance, cites “transsexualism, exhibitionism, transvestitism, voyeurism, and other paraphilias” as “causes for rejection for appointment, enlistment, and induction.” Those who transition during their enlistment are subject to discharge under enlistment violations, as well as through rules relating to homosexuality, cross-dressing or medical or psychological unsuitability. Some countries, including Canada, Israel and Spain do not bar transsexuals, though most Western nations do ban such individuals, while other nations do not even recognize the existence of transsexuals or intersexed individuals in civilian society.

According to the study, the military operates under an assumption that producing combat-ready soldiers requires enforcing a binary understanding of the male and female body, which does not allow room for those who identify as non-traditionally gendered. The military’s understanding and treatment of sexual minorities limits its capacity and willingness to work effectively with transgender, transsexual, or intersex-identified individuals. But the study also argues that the rigidity of sexual difference, gender roles, and sexuality are “becoming increasingly less absolute,” which raises questions about the admission, retention, training, housing and other services of transgender, transsexual, and intersex-identified individuals in the military.

“This research is essential if our armed forces are to use every qualified individual who is willing and able to serve,” said Dr. Aaron Belkin, Director of the Palm Center and a professor of political science at University of California, Santa Barbara. “The lives and capacities of nontraditionally-gendered individuals remain shrouded in stereotypes, and Witten’s fresh research is a critical antidote to ignorance and misinformation.”

About the Palm Center

The Palm Center is an independent research institute committed to sponsoring state-of-the-art scholarship to enhance the quality of public dialogue about critical and controversial issues of the day.

For the past decade, the Palm Center’s research on sexual minorities in the military has been published in leading social scientific journals. The Palm Center seeks to be a resource for university-affiliated as well as independent scholars, students, journalists, opinion leaders, and members of the public. For more information, see palmcenter.org